This Body Part Ages Faster Than the Rest of You

Claire Nowak, rd.com

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology used extremely precise atomic clocks to make the discovery.

What body part ages the fastest?

Instead of worrying how old your hands look, consider this: Your head is actually aging faster than the rest of your body. Before you freak out, though, know that it’s only by nanoseconds – 90 billionths of a second over 79 years, to be exact. That kind of difference isn’t even noticed by humans.

So, why does this happen?

A beauty company might not tell you this. But why our faces age fast is simple. This happens because of a relativity theory that Einstein developed and scientists later proved: The rate at which time moves depends on how fast you’re moving and how close you are to a gravitational field. For example, clocks at higher elevations run slightly faster than those at sea level.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) wanted to test that theory on an even smaller scale at just a one-foot difference. They used atomic clocks that “tick” as a single aluminum ion vibrates between two energy levels over one million billion times per second. When they raised one clock one-third of a metre (about one foot) above the other, the higher one ran at a slightly faster rate because it experienced a smaller gravitational force.